BILL NUMBER: AB 925	CHAPTERED  09/16/99

	CHAPTER   409
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 16, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 16, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 30, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 26, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 24, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 16, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 30, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 20, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 6, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Hertzberg and Rod Pacheco

                        FEBRUARY 25, 1999

   An act to add Chapter 13 (commencing with Section 2850) to Part 4
of Division 4 of the Probate Code, relating to conservatorship.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 925, Hertzberg.  Conservatorships:  statewide registry.
   Existing law sets forth a comprehensive body of law relating to
conservatorship, whereby a conservator may be appointed for a person
who is unable to properly provide for his or her personal needs for
physical health, food, clothing, or shelter, or who is substantially
unable to manage his or her own financial resources or resist fraud
or undue influence, as provided.  Existing law sets forth a
comprehensive body of law relating to guardianship of the person or
estate of a minor.
   This bill would require the Department of Justice to maintain a
Statewide Registry, to make all information in the registry available
to the court for any purpose, and to make certain information
available to the public on request.  The bill would require all
persons who wish to serve as a conservator or guardian or who are
currently serving as a conservator or guardian to register or
re-register with the Statewide Registry, except as provided.  It
would also require these conservators and guardians to file a signed
declaration containing specified information.  A person who asserts,
pursuant to this provision, the truth of any material information
which he or she knows to be false would be guilty of a misdemeanor
punishable as specified.  By creating a new crime, the bill would
impose a state-mandated local program.  The bill would authorize the
Department of Justice to charge a reasonable fee to persons
registering and re-registering with the Statewide Registry for the
cost of that registration, and would require it to issue a
certificate of registration.  The bill would prohibit a court from
appointing a person as a conservator or guardian unless that person
is registered with the Statewide Registry, except as provided.  The
bill would provide liability for a civil penalty for specified
fraudulent acts of a conservator or guardian.  The bill would
authorize trustees to register with the Statewide Registry.  The bill
would require a court clerk to forward a copy of any complaint filed
with that court to the registry.  By increasing the duties of local
officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state.  Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund
to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide
and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed
$1,000,000.
   This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no
reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
   With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that,
if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains
costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall
be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Chapter 13 (commencing with Section 2850) is added to
Part 4 of Division 4 of the Probate Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 13.  STATEWIDE REGISTRY

   2850.  (a) The Department of Justice shall maintain a Statewide
Registry and shall make all information in the registry available to
the court for any purpose, but shall otherwise be kept confidential.
On request, the registry may disclose to the public whether an
individual is or is not registered with the Statewide Registry.
Except as otherwise provided in Section 2854, all persons who wish to
serve as a conservator or guardian or who are currently serving as a
conservator or guardian shall register with the Statewide Registry
and shall re-register every three years thereafter.
   (b) All conservators and guardians required to file information
with the county clerk pursuant to Section 2340 and to register
pursuant to this chapter shall file a signed declaration with the
Statewide Registry.  A person who signs a declaration pursuant to
this subdivision asserting the truth of any material matter which he
or she knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by
imprisonment for up to one year in a county jail, or a fine of not
more than two thousand dollars ($2,000), or both that fine and
imprisonment.  The declaration shall contain the following
information:
   (1) Full name.
   (2) Professional name, if different from (1).
   (3) Business address.
   (4) Business telephone number or numbers.
   (5) His or her educational background and professional experience,
including verification of any college or graduate degree claimed.
   (6) The names of the conservator's or guardian's current
conservatees.
   (7) The aggregate dollar value of all assets currently under the
conservator's or guardian's supervision.
   (8) Whether he or she has ever been removed for cause or resigned
as conservator or guardian in a specific case, the circumstances of
that removal or resignation, and the case names, court locations, and
case numbers.
   (c) On request, the registry may disclose to a member of the
public the educational background and professional experience of a
conservator or guardian registered with the Statewide Registry.
   (d) The Department of Justice may charge a reasonable fee to
persons registering and re-registering with the Statewide Registry
for the cost of that registration.  The Department of Justice shall
issue a certificate of registration to each registrant.
   (e) Each court clerk shall forward a copy of any complaint filed
with that court, and found to be meritorious by that court, against a
conservator or guardian in his or her capacity as a conservator or
guardian for inclusion in the Statewide Registry.  The Statewide
Registry shall place any copies of those complaints in the file of
that conservator or guardian.
   2851.  (a) A court may not appoint a person as a conservator or
guardian unless that person is registered with the Statewide
Registry.  In appointing a person as a conservator or guardian, the
court shall examine and consider the information contained in the
Statewide Registry for that person.
   (b) Any person serving as a conservator or guardian prior to
January 1, 2000, who does not register with the Statewide Registry by
either January 1, 2001, or by the date of the next required review
pursuant to Section 1850, whichever is sooner, shall be removed as a
conservator or guardian by the court.
   2852.  (a) Any person who serves as a conservator or guardian
without being registered with the Statewide Registry, who commits
fraud in registering, who falsely asserts that he or she is
registered, or who makes false claims or representations as to the
nature of his or her file contained in the registry, shall be subject
to a civil penalty in the amount of two hundred dollars ($200) for
the first violation and a civil penalty in the amount of five hundred
dollars ($500) for each subsequent violation, to be assessed and
collected in a civil action brought by the Department of Justice.
All civil penalties collected shall  be deposited in the General
Fund. A  person who lawfully delays registration pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 2851 shall not be subject to a civil
penalty for serving as a conservator or guardian without being
registered until the time that subdivision (b) of Section 2851
authorizes his or her removal for failure to register.
   (b) Any court that removes a conservator or guardian for cause and
any court that has accepted the resignation of a conservator or
guardian shall notify the Statewide Registry of that removal and the
reason therefor.  The courts shall consider that information prior to
the appointment of a conservator or guardian pursuant to a
subsequent petition for appointment as conservator or guardian.
   2853.  Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, in
cases of urgency, where circumstances and justice warrant the
appointment of a conservator or guardian and time is limited, a court
may appoint a person as conservator or guardian without consulting
the Statewide Registry or requiring registration prior to
appointment.
   2854.  (a) This chapter does not apply to any public conservator,
public guardian, or to any conservator or guardian who is related to
the conservatee or ward by blood, marriage, or adoption.  This
chapter does not apply to any person who is not required to file
information with the county clerk pursuant to Section 2340, to any
person or entity subject to the oversight of a local government,
including an employee of a city, county, or city and county, or to
any person or entity subject to the oversight of the state or federal
government, including a supervised financial institution.
   (b) This chapter does not apply to any conservator who resided in
the same home with the conservatee immediately prior to the condition
or event that gave rise to the necessity of a conservatorship.  This
subdivision does not create any order or preference of appointment,
but simply exempts a conservator described by this subdivision from
registration.
   2855.  It is the intent of the Legislature that both:
   (a) Counties that provide for registration of conservators or
guardians continue to do so, and that the Statewide Registry not
replace county registration.
   (b) Courts maintain oversight over the complaint process in order
to safeguard the reputations of conservators and guardians against
unfounded complaints.
   2856.  Any trustee may register with the Statewide Registry.  It
is the intent of the Legislature that trustees may register if they
so desire, but that trustees are not required to register.
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution for certain
costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district
because in that regard this act creates a new crime or infraction,
eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime
or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government
Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
   However, notwithstanding Section 17610 of the Government Code, if
the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains
other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies
and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7
(commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.  If the statewide cost of the claim for
reimbursement does not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000),
reimbursement shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.
